Harry looked around the entryway as the advanced guard brought his stuff in behind him. It was a dreary seeming house, complete with gas lamps, dirty walls, and cobwebs. Harry idly wondered if it was haunted. Then he remembered that Phantom frequented the place.

The hallway lamps were lit with a wave of Moody's wand and Harry heard the sound of several people's hurried footsteps. Harry caught sight of Mrs. Weasley and another red haired woman that he didn't know coming down the hall to greet them.

"Oh Harry," the Weasley matron said, wrapping him in a hug. "It's so good to see you're alright. Nobody would tell me if you were hurt or not."

"Sorry about that," Phantom said, floating in through the doorway, and rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "I wasn't sure who I was allowed to talk to about the incident."

"Don't worry Mrs. Weasley," Harry told the woman hugging him. "A dementor attack is just a nice bit of exercise for me."

"Sorry to intrude, but what's a dementor again?" The question came from the other red haired woman, the one Harry didn't recognize. "I think I may have heard the term before, but with all this stuff going on I don't remember what it is."

"Creatures that eat happiness," Tonks said, leading the rest of the advanced guard into the house. "They guard Azkaban, our prison."

"Sounds like an interesting idea. Do you think we could get a couple to guard his thermos after we capture him?" The strange woman hooked a thumb at Phantom.

"That'll be the day. You couldn't catch a cold." The ghost boy smirked as he retorted.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Harry asked. Mrs. Weasley released him and gestured to the other red haired woman.

"Harry, this is Maddie Fenton," Mrs. Weasley stated. "Maddie, this is Harry Potter."

"Hello Mrs. Fenton," Harry said, offering a hand. "Wait, Fenton as in the American Fentons? The muggles with the magic technology."

"Well we haven't been able to identify the stuff you lot call magic, but we're the best ghost hunters in the world," the muggle woman declared proudly.

"And you're still not good enough to catch me. Does that make me the best ghost in the world?" Phantom shot back.

"What are you doing here?" Harry interrupted the two before they could start exchanging taunts in earnest.

"Same as everyone else. Hiding out from Voldemort." Maddie said, glaring at Phantom. "Evidently he doesn't like the fact that our inventions can mess with magical beings. And it turns out my son, Danny, and his friend, Sam, are wizards. Well, Sam's a witch, but you get what I mean. And their friend Tucker is staying here to help me and my husband with our research. Jazz is busy studying wizarding culture."

"Oh."

"And I've heard a lot about you from Molly here," Maddie went on. "I'm sure we'll get along just fine Mr. Potter."

"You can call me Harry," replied the wizard child. Mrs. Weasley looked at the clock.

"The meeting is going to start soon," she told the advanced guard. "Phantom, are you attending this one?"

"I probably should," the spirit replied glumly. "I always thought you had to be old to be attending meetings."

"Well not all of us have eternal youth, boy," Moody said scowling. "Sorry we couldn't arrange to meet in a tree fort."

"Hey, I don't have eternal youth! I'm still growing."

Moody shot him a disbelieving look with his good eye.

"I'm being serious. I've got a few feet to go. I'm not like Youngblood!" The halfa continued to protest.

"Keep telling yourself that," Moody said, following the rest of the guard as they filed down the hall to go to the meeting.

"No really!" Danny Phantom said, waving his arms wildly as he floated down the hall after the retired Auror.

Harry moved to join them, but Mrs. Weasley gently grabbed his arm and held him back.

"No, Harry, the meeting's only for members of the Order. Ron and Hermione are upstairs, and Danny, Sam, Jazz, and Tucker are in the basement." Mrs. Weasley told the boy-of-hyphenated-titles. "You can wait at either place until the meeting's over. And keep your voice down in the hall."

"Why?"

"I don't want to wake anything up."

"What-"

"I'll explain later. I'm supposed to be at the meeting. The stairways over here."

She led him quietly past a pair of long, moth-eaten currents, around a large umbrella stand, and to a dark staircase with several empty head mounts.

"Your room is on the second landing, the door on the right," the Weasley matriarch told the unofficial member of her clan. "Be quiet on the stairs."

Harry nodded and started to climb. He reached the second landing and tiptoed to the door on the right. He opened the door, twisting the serpent's head knob, and then entered the room.

There was a small moment in time where Harry could see the room and the twin beds, and then there was a longer period of time where all he could see was a high ceiling and a bunch of bushy hair. There had been a shriek and a moving body in the space between the times.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, picking herself up off the floor where she had knocked down the scarred boy. "Ron, he's here! We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you alright? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, though Sam said you shouldn't be, but she didn't sound very convincing, I know our letters were useless-"

"You know me," Harry replied, propping himself up on one elbow. "A nice surprise dementor attack is just the thing to spice up a dull summer. And don't make a fuss about the letters. I know it was too risky, what with owls getting intercepted and mind reading Death Eaters."

"Mind reading Death Eaters?" Ron spoke up. The boy seemed to be be taller and more gangly then Harry remember, almost like he had grown during the summer, which Harry reflected, in retrospect he probably had. His freckles, bright red hair, and long nose seemed to be the same. "They can do that? Fantastic, just another thing to worry about mate."

"It's just something Sirius mentioned in one of his letters. He said its called Legilimency." While he was talking there was a soft whooshing sound and an owl soared from the dark recesses of the room.

"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed, stroking her feathers. The owl clicked her beak and nibbled his ear.

"She's been in a right state," Ron stated, "Pecked us half to death when she brought your last letter-"

"Sorry about that," Harry said, still stroking Hedwig. "She didn't hurt you too badly, did she?"

Ron held up his right hand, showing the index finger that featured a deep cut in the process of healing.

"Again, sorry, but I wanted answers and I reckoned that since the fact Phantom was guarding was out of the bag-"

"You were the thing Phantom was guarding?" Hermione said, an expression of dawning understanding on her face. "That makes sense..."

"You guys didn't know?" The other two both shook their heads. "Did you guys learn anything here?"

"A little bit," Ron said slowly.

"Anything you didn't put in your letters?"

"Just some small stuff," Hermione said in a small voice. "And we really couldn't write that we staying at the headquarters of a secret society dedicated to fighting You-Know-Who.

"We wanted to tell you mate," said Ron, "Hermione was going spare, she kept saying you'd do something stupid if you were stuck on your own without news-"

"I had a half-ways decent conversation with my cousin," Harry interjected dryly. "Does that count?"

"-but Dumbledore made swear not to tell you." Ron finished as if Harry hadn't interrupted.

Being in the presence of his two best friends had ignited a warmth in Harry, like he was being hugged by an ethereal being made of light. But Ron's statement snuffed the warmth out. He could feel a cold emptiness in the pit of his stomach and it almost hurt to be in the presence of his friends.

"He seemed to think it was best," Hermione stated rather breathlessly. "Dumbledore, I mean."

"Right," Harry said. He noticed that her hands also bore bite marks. He squashed down his feelings of pleasure at the fact.

"I think he thought you were safest with the Muggles-" began Ron.

"You mean the Muggles who hate my guts?" Harry responded. "Who could easily poison my food? Not that I'm complaining, I've always found cyanide to be a delightful flavoring." He squashed down his desire to insult them, to rage at them, to yell at them. The very existence of the desire was painful to Harry, who valued his friends beyond all else, and refusing to act on it was just as painful. He could imagine the hurt and scared expressions on their face if he gave in, how half of him would exalt in it and how the other half would be left feeling worse then ever. So he deflected. He told jokes, he snarked, anything to ignore that awful urge.

"They wouldn't really do that to you, would they?" Hermione asked, looking horrified.

"Nah. Who'd they have to hate and grumble about then?" Harry sat up, taking care not to dislodge the owl on his shoulder. "Besides they'd rather watch as I get my soul eaten by dementors."

"Dumbledore was right pissed about that," Ron commented. "Apparently Phantom really needed that day off and Mundungus pretty much forced him to fight dementors. The only way it could have been worse is if he had simply left without getting anyone to cover for him."

"Well I admit I prefer the way it worked out," said Harry. "I got to meet a celebrity and then I get taken to the center of the fight against Voldemort. Oh and I got to see the dementors again. I missed those blokes, haven't seen them since third year-"

"Harry, are you feeling alright?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"You're starting to sound a bit mental," Ron added.

"It's just a joke," Harry waved away their concerns. "Besides maybe this will get Dumbledore to quit walking on water and turning water into wine and tell me something." He paused for a second. "Can we do that? I remember something about an exception involving food when it come to transfiguration."

"I... actually haven't looked into transfiguring food and drink into other kinds of food and drink," Hermione admitted, sounding embarrassed. "I know you can't transfigure something into food or drink, but when it come to transfiguring food or drink itself... I'll have to talk to Professor McGonagall next time she's here."

"Sure..." Harry said. "But enough about keeping me ignorant, despite the fact I'm the one who's had to save the Philosopher's Stone, destroyed Riddle, killed a Basilisk, drove off a pack of dementors, and dueled the Dark Lord in a graveyard, ugh just thinking about how cliche that was makes me feel dirty, tell me about the Fentons and friends. And about Phantom."

"Well..." Ron began looking scared.

"Sam's wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed, all the previous tension and worry evaporating. "I told her about the plight of the house-elves and she immediately joined S.P.E.W! And then she came up for a bunch of other movements to cure the ails of the wizarding world! And I have to say, I'm tempted to become an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian like her, she makes a great argument for it."

Ron was wincing and moving away from the girl, his expression betraying a history of long and unspeakable suffering. Evidently he had been caught up in their talks. No doubt they had pestered him to join. Harry shuddered in sympathy. If Sam was anything like Hermione...

Oh Merlin, he was going to be stuck here with them both! Maybe coming here wasn't such a good thing.

"Oh and she was so excited when were getting robes and cauldrons. She said she always liked dressing like a witch, something called being a goth. Oh, and Mr. and Mrs. Fenton know so much about the Spirit Realm, even if they insist on calling it the Ghost Zone. It's so exciting to actually meet some people we talk about in Modern Magical History."

Modern Magical History was what Professor Binns taught every other day. Binns was known as a halfa among the shades Hogwarts; he was half shade and half spirit. Evidently his love of history had been so strong, that on the fateful day he got up and left his body behind he had also created a spirit. The two had merged to become the current Professor Binns, who alternated between his two halves. On some days he would be a dry boring shade, droning on about ancient history and goblin rebellions, and on other days he would be an energetic teacher, engaging the class in discussions about recent events and what they meant for the wizarding world.

"And their inventions... oooooooooh, it's so exciting to be able to get a better look at them. And since the Order's put up wards so their work can't be detected and so Danny and Sam can practice magic, I've been able to examine those inventions!"

"Wait, we can use magic here? Without being detected?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Yes, I know, it's wonderful!" Hermione rubbed her hands together gleefully. "All that work I had to put aside over the summer I can actually do now!"

Did the Order realize the depths of their folly, the horror of the madness they had unleashed? Any moment now Voldemort would reveal himself to the Ministry and beg for an alliance so they could seal this hazard away...

Harry would probably have to help them to avert the dark reign of the Study Lord.

"If we could only get Danny to practice a bit more," sighed the witch in the room.

"I think he's practicing enough. Don't you notice how tired he always seems?" Ron asked his female friend. "Not everyone can easily learn five years of magic over the summer like you and Sam. And Fred and George have been tormenting the poor bloke when they aren't ogling his sister..."

"But we're giving him extra time!" Hermione protested. "He doesn't have to help us clean and decontaminate the house. And Jazz is helping him when she isn't cooped up with a book."

"Yes, but five years of magic and Jazz is a muggle!" Ron returned. "And you're always badgering him about his parent's work and about their hometown."

"Yes, but its all so fascinating," Hermione said, putting her hands on her hips. "Just think about what effects living in a place so close to the Nevernever could have on developing wizards. That's why Ollivander gave them those Thestral hair wands. He doesn't even know what they'll be good for-"

"So he's using them as guinea pigs," Ron retorted. "And poor Tucker. He kept groaning about how stuff shouldn't be possible and how we were spitting in the face of science."

"Are the Fentons helping with the war?" Harry asked, sitting on the bed opposite where Ron had been sitting, Hedwig still on his shoulder. "What's Voldemort doing anyway?"

"We don't really know," Hermione said nervously. "The Order doesn't let us into meetings and nobody will tell us anything. We only have a general idea, and it's mostly obvious stuff."

"Like what?"

"Well, he's definitely rebuilding his army of constructs, and trying to contact things like the giants to renew their allegiance," explained the bushy haired witch. "But you probably guessed that already. But he's also looking for something."

"We don't know what and nobody will tell us anything," Ron said huffily. "The only reason we know so much is because we've been eavesdropping. Fred and George have invented Extendable Ears, see, and we've been using them to listen in. Mom almost found out about them, but Sam distracted her at the last second."

"We know that Snape's been spying on Voldemort for us and some other members have been trailing known Death Eaters," Hermione added. "Phantom's been guarding something, you, and investigating their homes."

"He also sometimes helps with the house. You don't want to know some of the things that have been breeding here." Ron shuddered. "If only he could do fire instead of ice..."

"Is Snape here right now?" Harry asked.

"Probably. A lot of these meetings are him giving reports." Hermione sat down on the bed opposite Harry. Ron continued standing. "Don't worry, he almost never stays."

The door opened and Ginny entered.

"It's no good with the Ears," she said closing the door behind her. And then she got a good look at Harry. "Oh Harry, I didn't know you were here yet."

"Why aren't the Ears working?" Hermione asked the youngest Weasley child.

"I think she's warded the area," Ginny answered. "The doorframe's covered in writing and the Ears keep getting repelled. I've flicked some Dungbombs at it and they just either fly away or burn up."

"Did you get a look at the writing?" Hermione asked. "What did she use? Runes? And what was the reagent?"

"I think it was Hebrew," Ginny responded. "I didn't even know she knew Hebrew. It looks like it's a repeating script. In between each repetition is some sort of hair, with four spots of blood around each strand."

"That's too bad," Hermione said, rubbing her chin and looking thoughtful. "I decided to learn Sanskrit instead of Hebrew last year, so I'm no good. Maybe if I could get a better look at the reagents."

"Oh and in the center there's another bunch of writing, Chinese or Japanese this time," Ginny added. "It's around a glass ball that she must have installed this morning while we where working on the third floor bedrooms. The balls filled with this glowing green stuff-"

"Phantom must have lent a bit of power," Hermione mused. She turned to Ron. "Has your mom always been this good with wards? Double warding in two different scripts with two different reagents is very advanced stuff."

"She's always been a bit of a fair hand at this sort of thing," Ron told her. "But she's been hitting the books since she learned Voldemort's been back. And I've seen her talking with Dumbledore and Lupin, so she's been getting help from them. And Sirius let her examine the Black family wards, so she might have picked something up from them."

"Figures that she would use it to keep us 'out of trouble'" Harry said, air quoting. "I wonder what they're talking about now."

"No clue mate," Ron said shrugging and sitting down next to Hermione. "I hope it isn't about infiltrating the Prophet again."

"Why we they want to do that?" Harry was confused. He hadn't noticed anything strange in what little he read of the British magical newspaper.

"Harry, have you been reading the Prophet?" Hermione asked, nervous once again.

"Only the headlines, seeing if Voldemort did anything big lately."

Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all winced at once.

"Mate, I hate to be the one to break this to you..."

"What do you mean Voldemort had no idea about the dementors?" Danny Phantom said in a frustrated tone. "Who else could have sent them?"

"Any number of people boy," Moody told the specter. "Overzealous Death Eaters, people at the Ministry who want Potter silenced, or even the dementors getting restless. The Ministry doesn't have the absolute control over them that they like to think they do."

There were over twenty witches and wizards in the room, many of them sitting around a long table, with the silver bearded Dumbledore at its head. On the other end sat Snape. The four Weasleys sat near the center, with the two elder Fentons. Moody stood in a corner, his eye constantly scanning the room. Some others leaned up against the walls. And Phantom floated to and fro overhead.

"It is as he says," Snape told the spirit. "The Dark Lord told me that he had ordered no such attack. And I saw no evidence to the contrary. I suppose if you doubt my judgement you could always go investigate yourself." Snape's lips curled into a sneer. "Of course doing so in the heart of his defenses would result in him binding you and turning you into a battery, but at least then you wouldn't have to rely on my word alone."

"Severous, please," Dumbledore interceded. "I'm sure Danny meant no offense."

"Yeah, I get it, you're the super-spy and all, wizard James Bond," grumbled the specter. "But I still can't believe he didn't even know about the attack until you told him."

"It is possible that he does not trust me with the information," Snape conceded. "But, as I said earlier, I see no evidence to suggest that he did know."

"My greatest concern," said Dumbledore, "is how did the dementors know that Harry would be out from the safety of the wards that night?"

"They might have been hanging around," Mr. Weasley suggested.

"No, if that were the case they should have been detected long before then," Lupin told the red haired wizard.

"What if theys just got lucky?" Mundungus asked. "Like, that was theirs first night, and they just 'ad gotten lucky that 'arry was takin a walk then. Or maybe theys been just 'oppin in at random?"

"That is certainly possible," Lupin said, mulling over the idea. "Phantom, after encountering the dementors did you recall feeling anything like that before?"

"Nope, sorry," Danny shook his head.

"Is it possible to capture one of these creatures?" Maddie asked. "If we had one on hand we could develop some kind of radar to detect them."

"Or some sort of weapon to blast them!" Jack exclaimed. "Or we could modify the wavelength of the thermos's seeking beam to interface with their energy and shift the frequncy of anti-ecto nodes by the appropriate amount..."

"This house is bad enough without bringing dementors into it," Sirius interjected. "Besides the Ministry would notice if one went missing."

"What about a foreign one?" Maddie turned to Phantom. "Do you think you could find a natural colony and freeze one? And then transport it back here?"

"I don't know," the ghost boy admitted uncomfortably. "Those things ate one of my ecto-beams. The only reason I drove them off is because I hide an unstable bit of ice power in a different blast. If they're even the littlest bit smart that won't work very often."

"That's too bad then." Maddie frowned. "They can't get in here, can they?"

"No," Sirius told the muggle. "The wards won't even let them detect this place and then there's the Fidelius Charm on top of that. Same for most spirits that Voldemort might have in his service. You need a strong one like Phantom here to break the anti-detection feature of my family's wards and then only a spirit without any hostile intent could get past the Fidelius Charm, and that's just to see the house."

"That's reassuring," Jack replied.

"And then this room is doubly warded as well," Molly Weasley spoke up, "so in the event of an attack we can just move everyone in here.

"Back to Moldywart," the ghost boy said. "Is there anything you can let us know about the magic robots? I'd rather smash them before there's too many."

"I have told everything I can that will not reveal my position as a double agent," Snape told the halfa. "Seeing as Dumbledore doesn't think destroying the constructs is more beneficial then having me as a spy at this time, I'm afraid you'll have to wait."

"Ergg, there's nothing you can tell us?" The spirit pulled at his glowing white hair. "You can't tell us anywhere to strike?"

"Not at this time."

"This sucks!" Danny Phantom complained. "I'm getting tired of waiting around for him to do something. I want to beat something of his up!"

"You'll have to deal with it guardian spirit," came Snape's sharp retort. "You're in a war now and war is mostly waiting, mixed with fear, and brief glimpses of the thing man made called Hell."

Sam wiped a cloth over Danny Fenton's head, soaking up the cold sweat that had gathered. She, Jazz Fenton, Tucker, and Danny where sitting around in the basement. Danny lay on an empty desk, Sam sat on a chair next to him. Jazz sat on a chair in the corner of the stone basement, and Tucker sat at a different desk, fiddling with technology.

There was machinery and equipment scattered all around the spacious basement. On one wall there was the half finished white construct that would be a new Fenton Portal, another held a testing cubicle, and there were desks at the rest. Various Fenton inventions lay on the desks and the shelves that the ghost hunters had added.

Tucker looked up from his work and over at Danny.

"How much longer is that meeting going to last?" Tucker's voice sounded worried. "How much longer can he last?"

"I'm fine," Danny protested through grit teeth. Jazz looked up from her book to join his friends in giving him a disbelieving look.

"Danny, you are not fine," Sam said, wringing out the cloth.

"It's not like this hurts, exactly," Danny informed her. "It's a bit like what happens after one of those enemies that likes to drain me or tries to eat me gets in a good shot. Well, sort of."

"That just shows that you aren't fine," Jazz said. "If feels like you're being eaten-"

"Not really. It's just that it feels like a piece of me is missing whenever I go into that room." Danny said, rolling on his side to face Sam and get more comfortable. Looking at Sam helped him for some reason. "That's not exactly right either. I can still sort of feel it, like the link between me and the duplicate has gotten numb, but only because I'm messing with the link. It's sorta like one arm's dealing with sleep paralysis and the other isn't, but I can't move the good arm because the paralyzed arm is holding it down."

"Why isn't the duplicate having problems? Is it because he's in ghost form?" Tucker inquired.

"No, if that were the case I'd simply go ghost," Danny groaned. "Though it might help him a bit, cause the problem is the energy I personally supplied to one of the wards on the room. It's because I designated this me as the original and he's just an independent duplicate. As long as one of us is in that room, the original will suffer."

"So why is it so painful? You can still sort of feel the connection, even if you can't do anything about it." Tucker questioned.

"Cause the connection's gone numb from my own power. It's like my energy has fallen asleep, like it's a limb or something, and that's playing havoc with my body." Danny shivered. "It's alright, if this keeps up much longer I'll just fall asleep or something."

"Why did you have to designate the you down here as the original?" Jazz asked. "Why couldn't you just make them equal again?"

"I need to remember what was said in the meeting and dispelling an equal duplicate makes that hard to do. And I can't be up there because if I have to do something after a meeting, and then something goes wrong the duplicate will dispel, and it would be much more awkward for Danny Fenton to randomly disappear, then it would be for Danny Phantom to randomly vanish."

"What if it's something dangerous and they need your support?" Sam asked. "You could get them killed if you just vanish."

"Then I ask for a bit of time to prepare, dispel, then switch places, and then Danny Fenton goes to bed early cause he studied all night again. A better question is how is that club coming along?"

"It's a mace Danny," the geek told his half ghost friend. "Not a club. And I'm still looking up the kanji we're going to use." Tucker paused for a moment. And then he spoke again.

"Danny, if a ward that you empowered can have this sort of effect on you, could making this mace mess you up?" Tucker's tone was concerned. Sam and Jazz both shot surprised looks at him. They hadn't considered that possibility at all.

"Nah," Danny groaned. "Well, I'm guessing only if you hit me with it. But that's good, if I start turning into Dark Danny, you can just whack me with it and it'll be good."

Danny closed his eyes and felt for the connection he had with his duplicate. He grit his teeth as he swam through the numbness that stopped his conscious from fully entering the room, and the backlash from his own power working against itself. He focused on the sounds, hearing them as if they were coming from a great distance away from the bottom of a pit.

"I think they're going to be done soon," Danny told his friends and sister. "I'm going to sleep for a bit. Wake me when it's time for dinner." The youngest Fenton changed position again, curling up on himself and relaxing his focus. His breathing became regular, matching pace with Sam stroking his sweat laden hair, before falling into oblivion.

AN: Busy, busy, busy, sorry it took so long to get this chapter out.